1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a delta caching service, and related methods and systems.
2. Description of Related Art
In a system that delivers information from a server to clients who request that information (such as a web server delivering information to a set of web clients), it is desirable to minimize the amount of data that is actually sent from the web server to the web client. Delta caching is a technique by which the server and the client differentiate between template information and delta information for an object to be delivered from the server to the client; the client maintains a copy of the template information and the server is therefore able to deliver the object by only sending the delta information.
The web server often manages relatively large loads by dividing its tasks, using a load balancer, among a set of server-responders. However, differing server-responders might then associate different template information with objects at the server. One consequence is that when a client communicates with more than one server-responder, the template information known to the client and to the server-responder might differ. This is increasingly more likely as the number of server-responders is increased, and might result in miscommunication between a client and one or more of the server-responders.